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Well, I looked at the 2008 this afternoon. The drivetrain and oils looked OK. There was a small amount of oil collected on the intake, most likely a little leaking from the valve cover gasket. The bilge had some oil beneath the oil pan. I ran my hand on the bottom of the oil pan and it had a film of oil. No big drips though. Most likely the oil pan gasket. Tires are original and cracked from the sun, definitely need replacing. Gelcoat was decent shape, definitely needs a polish with a buffer. The front keel around the eye hook was really marred up with black marks from the roller. They either are power loading hard to the stop or maybe winching with the trailer not deep enough. Rest of the outside had minor nicks and marks. Bottom of the boat looked like it hadn't been sprayed or washed off all summer. Vinyl was good, but had some brown tinge around the edges where it had set damp against the sides of the boat. Battery was original, so probably near the end of its life. The plastic shroud around the gauges had a crack around one of the top screws. But, down on the bottom left, the same shroud had a complete split around the switch cluster, that would bug me. Good news is that it actually has Perfect Pass, not the standard Moomba Cruise. Told me that they had never changed the plugs or the impeller.

Why would someone selling a boat not have it cleaned and detailed? Mine is dirty right now, pulled of river at 830 last night and thru cover on. Will get cleaned today. I think boats owned by forum members are better maintained and cleaned than others.

Re: which to buy, a 2006 or 2008 LSV?

Not mine, maintained yes, very well, cleaned not so much..it gets used to much...

But a seller not taking the time to detail or clean the boat tells a lot of the care of the boat. The owner hasn't done any maintenance, not even changing the impellor. You can use that to reduce the price but it may take a while before they accept that the condition effects the price.

I remember going to look at a master craft, the one pic looked OK but once I got there it was dirty and stained up.. The owner was admit it would get top dollar cuz it was a master craft, he tried selling it all summer on eBay and craigslist without success...

I love buying dirt. If I can save a few thousand and do my own detail that would make me happy. You just have to make sure you get a great price then roll up your sleeves. If you do get that one be sure to change the impeller right away.

Well, the 2006 LSV turned out to be a bust. The gelcoat on this one was better, but still needed a good polish. The interior was fairly run down. Carpet was very dirty and the vinyl had quite a few stains. The Moomba cruise didn't work and one of the tower speakers was dead. When the guy pulled up the boat had ID tags from another state than what was in the pictures that the seller sent to me. I asked him if he had recently moved or something, he said no "the pictures that I sent to you were taken right after I bought the boat 3 years ago and it sill had the first owners ID on there." That is why the boat looked so good in the pictures. That kind of rubbed me the wrong way.

I think that I will keep looking. I expect a 5-7 year old boat to have a scratch, ding, or stain here or there. But, I can't believe how dirty people show a boat that they are trying to sell.

"the pictures that I sent to you were taken right after I bought the boat 3 years ago and it sill had the first owners ID on there." That is why the boat looked so good in the pictures. That kind of rubbed me the wrong way.

yeah, I think I would've asked the guy for some gas cash and flagged that ad in some manner to warn off other potential buyers.

I sold my 08 earlier this year. Even if I have not cleaned it, you wouldn't have found issues on it that you described. I did have a crack in a air vent inlet (under the windshield). I had the replacement in the glovebox. There are plenty of people who take care of their boat. You'll find something good soon.

Man, that sucks. At least now maybe you know some more questions to ask people over the phone before you go and see. The right boat will come around. Maybe also broaden your search area. The boat I bought was 10 hours away, and we met halfway. Way worth it. I found it on here of course, but I was also searching Craigslist, Ebay, Boat Trader, etc up to like 500 miles away from me.